1. Field of Invention
Aspects and embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to systems and methods for monitoring and simulating the performance of electrical systems.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Power monitoring systems and components thereof often need to be updated. For example, hardware and software components of meters and other devices are upgraded; devices are added, swapped out, or removed; and entire systems (or subsystems) developed from the ground up and deployed. Deploying such changes in a working power system involves risk, in that unexpected complications may lead to unexpected system behavior or outages.
Solutions for troubleshooting or testing a power system monitoring configuration in a test environment are known. In particular, solutions exist for scanning an existing monitoring configuration in order to create a virtual copy that technical support personnel can troubleshoot. Solutions also exist for testing software on a virtual meter before deploying the software to a meter in an active (physical) power system. These existing approaches have a number of drawbacks, however, including that the configuration of, and components in, power systems may change relatively frequently. This dynamic quality makes it cumbersome to implement and test changes to an existing power system monitoring environment.